A Deep Sea Fishing Adventure In Mauritius

Written by Nicole Biddle

“Deep sea fishing!”, Will excitedly shouted at me from across the beach where I was happily sprawled out on my very comfortable sun bed. “I’ve put our names down for deep sea fishing” – oh god I thought to myself as the images of an old rickety fishing boat with live bait thrown all over its deck came to mind… Noticing my expression, Will reassured me that deep sea fishing is a great day, relaxing, involving and exciting at the same time, and with fruits of the sea to show for it – Mmmm I thought, we’ll see.

At the crack of dawn we were met by Captain Sunny who led us down the beach to our boat. I was relieved to see that the boat looked nothing like I’d imagined, quite the opposite in fact – and I was even happier to see a very large sun deck at the bow of the boat… perfect.

We’d been trawling for a good few hours when suddenly, in the distance I saw sprays of water shooting out of the sea. I watched in fascination thinking it could be dolphins when suddenly our skipper raced to the side of the boat with excitement. The boat lurched forward, still with no idea what we were chasing, when suddenly and without any warning, a huge whale breached right in front of us, making an almighty splash.

We were moving along side a school of ten whales. I’ve never seen them so close in their natural habitat so for me this was really very special. The pup at the back tried to keep up with the others as they elegantly swam together at an impressive speed. It was incredibly relaxing seeing them who were by no means fussed by our boat or frantic photo taking.  We kept alongside them for a few more minutes before Will decided that it was time to get the lures back in the water to attempt his catch.